Among the devices which have been used by banks and other financial institutions to deter bank robberies, and to aid in the apprehension of a thief and the recovery of stolen monies, are security packs disguised as a strapped bundle of currency bills. Such security packs are normally kept in a teller drawer along with actual currency bills and are handed to the robber during a bank robbery. At least the top and bottom faces of the security/currency pack are actual currency bills to simulate actual bundles of currency. The disguised security packs actually conceal metal canisters containing materials including tear gas, visible dye, tracer dye, smoke and/or other active chemicals which can be discharged from the security pack to assist in the recovery of stolen monies--by marking the money, and the location of the money, and to assist in the apprehension of the thief--by marking and/or disabling the thief to mark the location of the money and the thief.
The metal canisters commonly used to contain the active chemicals that are emitted by the security pack contain a chemical mixture that is ignitable. The chemical mixture commonly contains chemicals similar to those found in a flare, and once ignited, these chemicals burn for about one minute. The metal canisters insulate the currency from the heat generated by the ignition of the chemicals.
Many methods have been used to activate the security pack and include:
keeping the security pack in a drawer on a magnetic keeper plate such that a magnetic reed switch within the security pack disables the unit from detonating as long as the reed switch is within the influence of the magnetic keeper plate and once removed from the keeper plate, a timer is activated and at a predetermined count, the security pack is detonated; PA1 having a plug in the security pack that is pulled when the pack is removed from the drawer, thereby arming the security pack and starting a timer; PA1 using radio receivers which are tuned to receive a localized radio signal broadcast by an antenna near the doors of the institution wherein the transmitted signal is limited to the vicinity of the doors, and not to the teller area, and when the security pack is brought within the vicinity of the radio signal the transmitted signal is detected by a receiver in the security pack to arm the pack wherein the security pack may either be detonated immediately or placed on a time delay; PA1 using a "hold-of" circuit with the electronic system of the currency pack which prevents the security/currency pack from being detonated until the thief has left the premises; and PA1 using digital coding techniques to minimize the chance of inadvertent detonations, for example inside the building.
Although there are many methods for activating the chemical pack, the method for concealing the chemical pack has traditionally been the metal canister which, although it insulates the currency from the detonation, it is bulky and rigid. Electronic components on a board trigger the ignition of chemicals housed in the metal container. The electronic board and the metal container are placed within a space cut out of a currency pack that is at least 51 percent of the notes as that percentage is usually required by the issuers of currency to fulfill requirements under mutilated currency laws to reimburse at the face value of the currency. The metal chemical container usually measures about 1.85 inches by 1.85 inches by 0.45 inches. Thieves know this, and will often either fan the currency packs to see if they behave as regular currency would when being fanned, or if they are stiff and unbending. Thieves have been known to bang the currency packs against the teller counter so see if they are soft, or if they contain a hard metal canister. Thus various ways have also been devised to make the currency pack look and behave more like a regular currency pack including loosely sewing actual currency bills together such that the edges may be fanned, splitting the chemical pack into smaller segments and storing the segments at opposite ends of the currency pack such that the pack may be bent as a normal currency pack and will not feel heavier nor stiffer than a real currency pack, and adding foam cushions around the chemical canister such that the security pack will not make a sound when banged on a hard surface such as a teller counter.
Various methods of concealing the chemical pack, and of timing the detonation of the security pack were discussed above and can be found in the following U.S. Patents which are representative of the state of the art. U.S. Pat. No.'s: 5,485,143 to Kenniston for a Security Dye Pack Having Flexible Heat-Resistant Chemical Pouch; 4,639,716 to Payne for an Alarm Packet System; 5,196,828 to Kennistion for a Bendable Currency Security Dye Pack; 5,448,223 to Johnson for a Currency Alarm Pack Having Receiver Automatic Gain Hysteresis; 4,573,043 to Heuker of Hoek et al. for a Safe Guarded Lockable Container, Particularly For Transporting Money and Securities; 4,559,529 to Bernhardt for an Anti-theft System With Digitally Coded Signal; 4,511,888 to Bernhardt for a Dual Signal Electromagnetic Article Theft Detector; 5,059,949 to Caparoni et al. for a Currency Alarm Pack; 3,828,341 to Carter, Jr. et al. for an Alarm Apparatus For Facilitating The Detection Of An Unauthorized Removal Of Property; 4,604,607 to Sanderford, Jr. et al. for a Security Device Simulating Currency Pack Or The Like, and 4,327,360 to Brown for an Alarm Device Responsive To Movement Of Protected Object, Power Source Condition And Alarm Ground Path.
No security dye packs known to exist to the inventors at the time of the invention perform functions beyond the ignition of a chemical pack by a pre-set electronic timer that is triggered, by electronic transmitter/receiver means or otherwise, when the currency pack exits the premises. The weight, simple electronic procedures, the use of bulky batteries and overall size of the dye pack electronics are drawbacks to existing systems. Also no known systems can automatically trigger alarms to alert authorities to a potential or in-progress robbery when the security pack is removed from its drawer, nor can current systems lock the doors to a bank to prevent re-entry of a thief.
Thus it would be desirable to have a security dye pack system which would feel like a real currency pack, emit a chemical pack in order to stain bank notes and the thief, emit a cloud of smoke, where allowed by law, emit a disabling gas, have a transmitter/receiver mechanism to control the detonation of the chemical pack once the currency pack exits the premises, lock the facility's doors such that a thief can not re-enter the premises, have a coded transmitter/receiver mechanism to automatically activate the facility's silent or audible alarm when the security pack is removed from its storage drawer, and also to automatically activate surveillance cameras upon removal of the security pack from its storage drawer.